The Usual
by Howlitzer
Summary: A little something about...nothing much. Sonic takes a few moments to think while on a classic Eggman base tour.


Started writing this while at work. It's...not really about anything and jumps a few topics. I think so, anyways. I hope you enjoy it either way.

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><p>We come to a stop, a road of cold steel stretched out before us. The air's filled with all sorts of chemicals and I can smell it, feel it filtering through me every time that I breathe in. My body's fighting whatever's trying to invade, as it always does. Some kind of biological reflex, as Tails says. He doesn't understand how it works. Neither do I, but I've never dwelled on it.<p>

Tails says that it might be a hedgehog thing. He might be right, because my current partner isn't affected much, either. A bit exhausted from the running, though. Not that I can blame her - I've been known to keep a brutal pace at times, according to Tails and Knuckles.

I put a hand on her shoulder, and she springs to life, like magic. Funny how that happens.

"You okay?"

She turns her head to smile at me, that same old 'I'm so happy to see you' smile that I've seen for years.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking, Sonic. You know, I've always wondered how you made it through Eggman's bases...it doesn't seem like an easy trip from the looks of it. And the air is horrible here."

"I've gotten used to it, unfortunately."

"No kidding? Weird thing to adjust to..."

It's been quite a ride these past twenty four hours. Amy practically begged me to come along, and I caved after Tails said he had a bunch of maintenance work to do on the Tornado-1. Sure as hell wasn't gonna ask Shadow to come with me.

So off we went. Smashed a few robots, escaped a few death traps, had a few close calls. The place reminded me a lot of Eggmanland. Not the best place to have a good time.

"Want some?"

I turn to look at her again. She's slid down to her knees, holding up a bottle of creamy, pink liquid.

"Ointment. Non-scented," she states. I'm a fast enough healer, so I don't have a need for the stuff. She's just being her polite self, asking me if I wanted any first. I decide to humour her.

"Yeah. Just need a bit for this cut on my arm," I half-lie, knowing that it was healing up as I spoke. Brushed past a circular saw while scaling a wall. Common scrape.

I sit down beside her, and she takes my arm in her hands. She slides off her gloves, which are scorched all over and riddled with holes. Just from one of Eggman's flamethrowers, but my gear is built tougher than hers since I have to fight a lot. They were burning pretty hot today, too.

She's moving her hands up and down my arm, massaging the pink stuff into the area where I was cut up. I have to admit, it feels nice. Her hands are soft. She's putting her full attention onto my arm as she works on it. Selfless of her. But not so unusual, I think.

She's been through a lot today, maybe more than I've been. That nice red dress of hers is torn up pretty badly, but she hasn't complained about it once. I can see parts of her skin, smooth and soft through the holes and gashes in the fabric. Parts of her underwear too, as perverted as that may sound. Hard not to notice when her clothes are hanging on by threads.

Weird how she makes it all look so natural.

"Done," she says.

"Thanks. Felt nice."

"You're welcome." She gives me a wink. "Enjoyed the view?"

"Heh. Who wouldn't?" I wasn't going to lie about it, was I?

She blushes and gives me a little giggle in return. "So I take it you're interested?"

"Not really, no."

Amy fakes a pout and sticks her tongue out. "Heartbreaker."

"You doing okay?" I ask.

"I'll survive."

"You look a bit tense," I say. There are small beads of sweat on her forehead, some of it trickling down her face. She's blinking quickly, trying to focus on something. "Legs are bothering you, I see."

"Sort of..."

"You sitting on them isn't going to make it any better."

"Temporary fix, I guess. I'll shake it off."

Determined, wasn't she? I knew what a bad leg cramp felt like, after a bunch of times where I pushed myself a bit too hard on a run. Nasty things, those. Amy didn't want to slow me down. Didn't want to disappoint me in the slightest, wanted to show me that she was capable and mature and all of that.

"I don't want to slow you down anymore." See, what'd I say?

"If I cared about that, I would have gone solo. I needed someone to watch my back."

"You could have picked anyone else."

"Yeah. I could have," I say as I lift her off her feet.

"Sonic? Hey, what...what are you doing?"

I have to smile right now, because she's blushing like crazy as I pick her up and jog to a safe(r) location. Wouldn't do to be sniped by a Buzzbomer or anything. Well, it's happened before, actually...my arm was sore for about two weeks.

"Hey, Sonic! P-put me down, I'm fine! I'm okay!"

"No, you're obviously not. If you keep going like this, you'll definitely pull a muscle or something. Then we'd be stuck for sure."

"I-I just don't want to t-trouble you..." I have to admit, she's really cute when she gets like this. Maybe I have a thing for her after all...? Hard to say based on this, though. I just like teasing her sometimes.

"It's no trouble at all. Relax, I'll get you fixed up."

"Really?"

"Really."

All I can see is metal, metal, and more metal around the place. I finally find a good spot out of sight and place her on a sloped piece of steel nearby.

"H-hey. What're you gonna do?"

"Your legs are too tense right now. If you keep going, something bad'll happen and you probably won't be able to run for a while." She protests but I ignore her and pull off her boots. Huh. Her toenails are painted like her fingers, blue. Well, obviously. She did tell me that it was one of her favourite colours. No surprise why.

"Sonic, you're not seriously…!" Her hands are over her face by now, trying to cover up how badly she's blushing. Not working very well from my perspective. I put her legs in my lap and poke the sole of one of her feet.

"Ow!"

"That wasn't a hard one. You really are tense down there." I shrug and start to massage her foot, stopping when I hear strained gasps.

"You okay?"

"F-fine…just fine."

"Okay. Turn over, then. It'll help me out."

She nods and flips onto her stomach. I figure that by helping her muscles loosen up, she'll a lot better sooner. I do the same thing when I'm feeling too tensed up during or after a run. The knots in her feet are starting to disappear as I say this…seems to be working, at least. Good.

"Better?" I ask. I get a hum in response, so I take that as a sign to go on. She twitches a bit when I touch her calves, but calms down as soon as I work my magic. See, I know what I'm doing.

"How'd you…get so good at this?"

"Practice makes perfect," I tell her simply. And it was true.

"You know how many women would kill to get a massage like this?"

"I can wager an estimate," I say. She laughs softly and turns herself over.

"How long are you gonna go at this?"

"Till you're all loosened up. Can't take any chances," I say while moving my fingers. She sighs and lies back again.

"You're the boss."

"Hm." It's kind of absurd, thinking about it. Here we are, breathing in toxic fumes while trapped inside of one of Eggman's hidden bases, and I'm here massaging a crazy fangirl's legs.

They're pretty nice legs, at least.

I look over at her and she gives me another one of her patented smiles. Somehow I can't resist smiling back at her. There something about the way she looks at me.

It's never been clear to me until now, somehow. Why she thinks so highly of me, even though I have all of these flaws and shortcomings. I don't make any attempts to hide them. I really don't know how to. She follows me in spite of all that. Somehow, she trusts me, puts herself in my hands.

This 'perspective' stuff is kind of mind-blowing, really.

Just a girl in a messed up red dress, cuts all over her. Hair all frizzy and her body's wound up like a spring. But she's got that smile for me. It's my smile.

Makes me feel warm inside. And good, really good. I want to rethink how I'm involving her in my life.

Sort of.

What? I'm not exactly a romantic.

I can feel the last of her knots loosen, and she sighs in relief. Or pleasure. Hard to tell with her, but she might've enjoyed that a little too much.

"You're amazing, Sonic."

"I get that a lot." No, seriously. I do. "But it means a lot coming from you, Amy."

"You…mean that?"

"'Course I do. I've got no reason to lie to you, do I?"

She blushes. "I suppose not…"

"Good. Then we can get moving again."

"Sonic?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for being you."

"Well…I try," I say honestly. She nods and hooks her arm underneath mine as we walk, her head against my shoulder. I guess I can give her this moment, can't I?

Air's still horrible, and we've got a few miles of patented Eggman gimmicks to go through. But I've got a friend along with me, and she's got a good smile.

Yeah…I think this'll be a great day after all.


End file.
